


Bubbles at Sea

by The_Annoying_DAHG



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Beach Holidays, Changing Tenses, Creepypasta, Gen, I blame LavenderTowne and her amazing readings, I have named the clown Bubbles and I will make bad jokes about it, I'm very excited for this so hopefully someone reads it 8), Love Confessions, Megalophobia, POV Original Character, Scary Clowns, coulrophobia, submechanophobia, yeah they're kinda overplayed but stereotypes exist for a reason
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:13:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28551438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Annoying_DAHG/pseuds/The_Annoying_DAHG
Summary: Peyton Duke invites her friend Miles Orange to a weeklong beach getaway on Oak Island. While there, the two hear of the story of an old traveling circus, lost at sea in 1827. Creepypasta happenings ensue.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	1. Long Beach

**Author's Note:**

> Some quick stuff that will help in this work:  
> -Peyton is a month younger than Miles and they are both 19  
> -this is not at all a true story, I just took some elements from Blackbeard's fate and put an "evil clown" spin on it  
> -I own this book, https://www.amazon.com/Spooky-North-Carolina-Hauntings-Happenings-ebook/dp/B002JM2EVU, and it heavily inspired this story  
> -the locations here are only geographically accurate and not in any way denoting the attitudes of the actual places  
> -you'll probly need a map of the state for the beginning to make sense

It happened two years ago. Even as I sit here, writing it in my room, it still feels like it was just last week I stumbled into the remains of the _Windsor._

When I was nineteen, my father surprised me with a car, a beautiful red Ford Fusion. "Happy birthday, Peyton."

I cried, and I hugged him and I thanked him. I couldn't imagine how cool I would look rolling up to college in a car like this, rather than my mother's junker Camry. It was a shame that I never got to go, not because of grades, but of location. UNC.

I lived in Morganton, a city 'bout the size of Stallings in the Appalachian Mountains. I had family in Charlotte and in the Randolph/Davidson county area. After the beach week I had with my best friend, Miles Orange, I've never been farther east than High Point. Anywhere closer than that, and I was in range.

Let's quit teetering around the subject. It happened, and me and Miley are here to write it for the newspeople here.

Oak Island, North Carolina. About 10 minutes south of Wilmington, and home to Long Beach. I remember when I was little I got it mixed up with Long Island. The only reason I know it now is that Long Beach sounds dumber, and, compared to Long Island, it is.   
Not that it's a crappy place, I mean. It's beautiful, they've got piers and seafood and beach, and they've got a residential area, and they're located right on the waterway, so the whole island is pretty cool. Unless you're me.   
Most of the residents are either old, paranormally enthused, or both, and many of them believe that Blackbeard's ghost resides farther north in Ocracoke. Why they live here to talk about the Pamlico Sound 2 & 1/2 hours away, I dunno, but they do anyway. That's an interesting thing about this state that always made me wonder how they teach history in other places -- we always got an assignment or two on Roanoke and the Lost Colony, or Edward Teach, or Joe Baldwin and the Maco Light. Do they teach local ghost stories like that in the other states?

Well, anyway, back to the actual story. I was nineteen, young, stupid, and falling head over heels for my buddy Miles. I thought that a summer beach vacation would be an awesome way for us to grow our relationship, plus I wanted to show him how to dive off the pier and _not_ kill yourself. He was pretty excited when I told him where we were going, so off we drove, six hours and change, for one of the better beaches in this place.

We drove down the bridge that connects Oak Island to the rest of the state a little too quick, and Miles got me to stop so he could go help a seagull trying to swallow a Ziploc bag, and then we were finally there. Miles checked us into our hotel, we dumped our suitcases, and then we changed and hit the beach. Ten solid miles of nothing but sand and sea-- that's where Long Beach got its name.

I took pictures of sandpipers, fed one some Cheetos, and Miles took his boogieboard into the water and got washed out almost every time he dove. I brought a kite shaped like a dragonfly and I flew that, but a seagull flew into it and got tangled in the string, poor guy.

There was a lady with her son there, complimented me on my swimsuit, but she also mentioned an event up in Wilmington she was going to. "They do ghost tours every other day. Me and my son are heading to see one tonight. My daughter's leading the tour. Maybe we'll see you there?"

"Maybe. I'd have to ask that nerd I brought with me."

"Oh, that boy with the boogieboard?"

"Yeah. He's not into stuff like that but I could prob'ly convince 'im."

"Well, if you see us, just gimme a holler." She waved to some kid a few towels over, and he pulled a soda out of his cooler, popped the tab. "Ms. Gardner."

"Peyton. Good to meetcha."

"You too, darlin'."


	2. Wilmington

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peyton and Miles go on the ghost tour Ms. Gardner recommended. Most of it is painfully average, but only most of it.

We went back to our hotel after a couple hours. I showered the saltwater out of my hair and let me tell you, shampoo never feels better than when it's softening salty hair. Miles went after me and then he conked out on our bed. I turned on the TV and watched the Nickelodeon channel for a couple hours. We went out to eat and then he drove us up to Wilmington to go on the tour.

"You sure this is gonna be worth it?" he asked me as we parked beside a souvenir store. "It's just gonna be a bunch of edgy middle-schoolers and dotty old ladies in their 70s."

"Lighten up, Miley. Sure, it's probably all fake, but it's fun to walk around town." I stretched, accidentally banging my knuckles against my window. "Plus I promised that lady from the beach we'd meet up with her."

We got tickets and waited for the 7:00 group. I got some cool pictures of a cat I found, and a shirt of Blackbeard with aviators that said "Don't lose your head" that Miles thought was way funnier than it actually was.

Eventually we headed for the town square. A girl with a blonde ponytail was talking to the rest of the group. I saw Ms. Gardner and waved to her, and she waved back.

"That's Nicole, my daughter I told you about. She's leading us around tonight. Aren't you excited?" she giggled to me. "Oh, and you convinced your boyfriend to come."

Me and Miles shared an awkward glance before he offered his hand. "We're not quite there, ma'am," he grinned, and I remember thinking _man, I wish we were._ "Miles, ma'am. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, don't call me ma'am, darlin'. It makes me feel old!" she laughed. We tuned back in to Nicole as she started us off the ghost walk.

It was pretty much your average ghost tour-- a haunted pub from 19-whenever, a girl in a car accident on her prom night, some old man that got murdered in his sleep, yada yada, until we got to a little tombstone with a big top carved into it.

"Bubbles the Clown," Nicole started. I heard someone roll their eyes and scoff, and apparently, so did she. "Oh, this isn't a story to sneeze at, kid.

The year is 1827. Traveling circuses are on the rise, and there's a famous man who's a famous clown. He juggles exceptionally, and he's great with kids. His stage name is Bubbles, and children across America are talking about him. He's a household name, always in the local paper a week before his circus comes. The man behind the face paint loves his job, loves the circus family, and he lives to perform. The ringmaster gets the whole entourage a private ship-- they're going to Europe! Everyone gets in the ship, up in Boston, and they sail to Europe and have a grand old time... until they sail back." She quiets, and the entire group is silent. "They sail to Wilmington for their next show. A fatal mistake; the ship is caught in a squall not twenty minutes off the coast. Then _**crash!!!"**_ she yells, making me jump. I grabbed on to Miley's arm accidentally, but I didn't let go. He never shoved me off, either. "Dashed on the rocks! The ship sinks. Bubbles? He gets thrown off the ship, and it scratched off his face!" I heard a "Heavens!" from the crowd. "The only survivor was a trained tiger that people saw hunting big ol' birds in cornfields."

She smiles, but only with her mouth. Her eyes are real somber, like she's gonna cry any second. "We found the ship in the sea back in the seventies. Citizen reports said that you could still hear Bubbles searching for his face on clear nights. 'My face... what happened to my face?!'"

Ms. Gardner looked pale, like she was about to up and faint. Nicole grinned and bowed, like she was finishing a theatre scene. "Thank you."

The other stories were pretty boring, but she finished it up with a riveting tale about Edward Teach, which, even though I knew it already, still gave me chills. I spoke to her after the tour. "You tell stories real good. You could write a book, you know?"

"Ha, thank you. Mom always says stuff like that, so maybe it's true."

"Well, I don't hand out compliments to everyone. I say so 'cause I think so."

She gave me a look. It wasn't bad, just contemplative. "Can I say somethin' too? You seem like the kind of guy who can take it."

"Uh... sure, I guess."

"You like that Miles guy, don't you?"

I thought I was keeping a straight face when I said "A little," but apparently not, 'cause Nicole smirked at me kinda weird. "It's fine. I'm not gonna tell him. But he seems like a real keeper. You take care of him, now."

Miles ran up to us at that very moment. "What're y'all talking about?"

Nicole beamed at him. "Not much. But hey, your friend here?" she said, clapping an arm around me. "She's a great girl. Don't leave her hangin'."

"I won't, ma'am."

"Who's 'ma'am'? You're making me feel old," she laughs, shooing us off so she can go on the next tour. Apparently, that runs in the family.

In the car, I asked him what he thought of the tour. "Not much. That story about the clown was kinda interesting, though."

"We should look for the ship."

He accidentally floored it for a second, and I screamed before he regained control. "You-- what?! Why?!"

"I-I dunno, it seemed like a cool prospect, you know, go find an ol' sunken ship...." Then it dawned on me. "You're not afraid of some old ghost story, are you?"

Miles looked away, focusing hard on the Georgia license plate in front of us. "You _are!_ Miles Orange, professional skeptic, scared of a clown from 200 years ago--"

"If you want me to go, Peyton, you shouldn't make fun of me so much." He grins just a little as he turned back to our hotel.

"I make fun of you 'cause I care."

"How so?" He turned off the engine and we sat in the parking lot.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Care, like, as in friend, or...?"

I was in some deep water now.

"Why do you wanna know?"

Miles looked at me, back at the windshield, did that a couple times.

"Maybe... I like you?"

I didn't say anything for a minute, just gave him my best doe eyes. "Maybe I like you back."

"Maybe I jumped at the chance to come here."

"Maybe I jumped at the chance to invite you."

He gave me this stupidly cute grin that made my stomach surge, and we shared a laugh.

"This is the reason our room had one bed, isn't it."

"You tell me."

We went inside and got ready for bed. He stayed up with me to watch some Disney Channel shows and we made fun of them together before we eventually fell asleep.

I had a dream that night that I remember vividly. I dreamed I was diving off the coast of somewhere, with a scuba mask and my tiny swimsuit. Out in the distance - an insanely huge ship, rotting from water damage, sat on the ocean floor. I swam towards it like I was swimming through underdone Jell-O, but eventually I made it to one of the big gashes in the side, and went into the ship. It was nightmarish, bodies everywhere, some old, some young, some animals. Eventually I came across one facedown, but when I flipped it over I was greeted with a decaying skull staring up at me. I turned around to swim back to the shore but I was stopped by a huge I-don't-even-know- _what_ that made a noise. I couldn't pick out anything but "face" and then it lunged...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -No, I have never been on the Wilmington ghost tour  
> -No, I don't think that Blackbeard shirt is real  
> -Yes, he was beheaded, that's the joke


End file.
